Roof construction



Jan. 7; 1936. o. F. GRAEBNER -2,027,163

ROOF cousmucnon Filed Jan. 8, 1931 INVENTOR otto FT Graekner AZlLW eMvAW ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 7, 1936 UNITED STATES ROOF CONSTRUCTION Otto F. Graebner, Detroit, Mich, assignor to The Murray Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application January 8, 1931, Serial No. 507,319

Claims.

This invention relates to a construction of roofs for closed vehicle bodies.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a strong light weight and easily assembled 5 roof construction.

Another object is to provide means for attaching the roof cover material to the exterior paneling of the body in a manner that will insure a weather tight joint.

Another object of the invention is to provide a unitary roof framing member and support for the roof covering material, and to assemble and support it relative to the exterior-body paneling in such a manner as to obviate heavy cumbersome roof framing members.

With these and other objects in View my invention consists in the arrangement, combination and construction of the various parts of my improved construction as described in the specification claimed in my claims and shown in the accompanying drawing in which;

Fig. l is a plan view of the roof of a closed automobile body having parts broken away and embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan View with parts broken away, showing a modified form of roof construction embodying some of the features of my invention.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 44 of Fig. 3.

It is the present practice in the construction of closed automobile bodies to form the frame members of either wood or metal and to form the outside sheathing of the body of sheet metal, and in the roof construction it is customary to support the longitudinal roof supporting members and the transverse roof supporting members on either the wood or metal frame members of the body. It is also customary to form the outside panels of the body so that they will round up and extend horizontally part way over the roof of the vehicle on both sides and the rear of the body, and this may also be done at the front of l the body. These panels ordinarily lie over and are supported by the roof framing members which in turn are supported upon the sideframe members of the body.

In constructing the roof 2. support of wire screen or mesh is usually secured upon the top of the roof framing members and covering material, of a more or less pliable nature, is then laid upon this wire screening and its edges are secured to the edges of the metal exterior panels of the body 5| which extend up over the margins of the roof.

Thev screening underneath the cover material is for the purpose of preventing sagging of the cover material.

My invention eliminates the necessity of supporting the transverse roof framing members upon the body frame members. It also eliminates the necessity for the separate transverse framing members and for the wire screening, and it provides means for attaching the edges of the cover material to the marginal metal roof panels which will provide weather proof joints and prevent leakage through the roof at such joints.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing the numerals l0 and II indicate those portions of the exterior body paneling which extend up over the sides of the body and form a part of the roof thereof. In forming the inner margins of these panels I 0 and H I have provided adjacent their inner edges an upwardly presenting channel [3 as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. In Fig. 2, the inner wall 54 of this channel is bent at its upper edge to from a bead J5 and is then bent to form a downwardly offset lateral flange 16 on the inner edge of the panel. In Fig. 4, the inner wall of the channel I 3 is return bent to a greater extent than in Fig. 2, in order to prevent a deeper ledge above the inwardly extending lateral flange 6, for reasons which will be hereinafter explained.

Referring again to Fig. 2, I provide a roof framing and cover supporting member ll, which comprises a perforated metal sheet which covers the entire top of the roof. The edges of this metal sheet are disposed upon and secured to the lateral flange l6 and the cover material l8,

which is ordinarily of such a flexible nature as to need support to prevent sagging, is spread uponthis sheet I! and is of sufficient width and length so that its edges may extend over into thechannels I3. Positioned in the channel I3 is a packing strip which comprises a wood or fiber core 20 sheathed in a metal cover 2|. This strip is secured in the channel l3 preferably by welding or otherwise bonding the metal of the sheath 2i to the metal of the channel l3. The sheath 2| is provided with a slotted opening 22 along its upper side which exposes the wood or fiber core to nails or other like fastening means. The margin of the cover material I8 is stretched down over the bead I5 and laid across the top of the packing strip which is secured in the panel [3. A molding member 25 of ornamental contour and. containing nails 26 is then placed over the edge of the cover material l8 and the nails are driven through the slotted opening 22 in the strip into the wood or fiber core 29 thus securing the edge of the cover material B8 to the tacking strip. The molding 25 is preferably of suflicient width so that it will wedge the covering material l8 tightly between its side and the side of the channel l3. The tacking strip 20 is'preferably of less thickness than the depth of the channel [3 in order to let the molding strip 25 down into the channel, thus permitting the sides of the channel l3 to afford lateral support for the molding.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown a different form of roof framing construction which comprises a wood or like framing member 30 laid upon and secured to the flange I6, and transverse framing members 31 which extend across the roof of the body and have their ends mortised in and secured to the framing member 39. A cover material supporting screen 32 is spread upon the roof framing members 30 and 3| and its marginal edges are secured by being clamped between the side of the framing member 31! and the adjacent vertical wall 33 which supports the flange it.

The framing member 35 may be secured tothe flange l5 by means of screws 34, and the screening may also be secured to the framing member 35 by means of tacks or nails 35. The cover material i8 is spread upon the screening and its marginal edges are secured in the channel 93 in the same manner as described in connection with Fi 2.

It will be apparent that I have provided, as disclosed in Fig. 2, a unitary roof framing member and cover support in the member H, which is supported entirely by the marginal roof panels l6 and i I and need not be secured or attached to the body framing members. This member ll combines light weight with a maximum strength and is ordinarily to be preferred over the wood framing members shown in Figs. 3 and 4. It lends itself to easy and quick assembly and may be manufactured and assembled at much less cost both as to labor and material than the conventional framing members which are usually in separate pieces and are supported and attached to the framing members of the body, and also with less cost than the framing members 36 and 3! shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

It is to be noted however, that the framing system shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is supported entirely and attached directly to the exterior body paneling. It may therefore be made up as a unit and applied to the panels ii! and H as such and is obviously of advantage over roof framing which must be attached to theframe members of the body.

I Formal changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the invention described without departing from the spirit or substance of the broad invention, the scope of which is commensurate with the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A roof construction for closed vehicle bodies comprising metal quarter panels covering the margins of the roof and forming a central aperture, said panels having an upwardly presenting channel formed therein adjacent to and longitudinally of their edges, the inner wall of said channel being bent to provide a marginal bead and a downwardly offset lateral flange along the inner margins of said panels, a roof framing the tacking means in said channel below the level of said bead.

2. A roof construction for closed vehicle bodies comprising metal quarter panels covering the margins of the roof and forming a central aper- 10 ture, said panels having an upwardly presenting channel formed therein adjacent to and longitudinally of their edges, the inner wall of said channel being bent to provide a marginal bead and a downwardly offset lateral flange along the in- 15 ner margins of said panels forming a central ledge about the central aperture, a roof framing member supported on said ledge for spanning said aperture and bracing said panels, tacking means secured in said channel, and top cover ma 20 terial spread upon said roof framing member and having its edges laid upon the tacking means below the level of said bead, and a molding member laid upon the said edges of said cover material and securing the same to said tacking means. 5

3. A roof construction for closed vehicle bodies comprising metal quarter panels covering the margins of the roof and forming a central aperture, said panels having an upwardly presenting channel formed therein adjacent to and longiso tudinally of their edges, the inner wall of said channel being bent to provide a marginal bead and a downwardly oflset lateral flange along the inner margins of said panels, a roof member supported on said lateral flange for spanning said 35 aperture and bracing said panels, tacking means in said channel comprising a wood or the like core member having a metal sheath secured in said channel member by bonding said sheath to the metal of said panel, and top cover material 40 spread upon said roof framing member and having its edges secured to the wood core of said tacking means.

4. A roof construction for closed vehiclexbodies comprising metal quarter panels covering the 45 margins of the roof and forming a central aperture, said panels having an upwardly presenting channel formed therein adjacent to and longitudinally of their edges, the inner wall of said. channel being bent to provide a marginal bead 50 and a downwardly ofiset lateral flange along the inner margins of said panels, a sheet metal roof framing and supporting member having its edges secured to said lateral flange for spanning said aperture and bracing said panels, tacking means 5 secured in said channel, and top cover material spread upon said roof framing member and having its edges secured to the tacking means in said channel.

5. A roof construction for closed vehicle bodies 6( including metal quarter panels covering the margins of the roof, said panels having upwardly presenting channels formed therein adjacent to and longitudinally of their edges and further eX--- tended to form inwardly presenting flanges, and a tacking strip, including a strip of wood enclosed on all but a portion of one of its sides with metal, which is bonded to the metal of the channel.

OTTO F. GRAEBNER. 

